Kaleidoscopes



B. W. TAYLOR July 1l, 1961 KALEIDOSCOPES Filed Oct. 9, 1957 INVENTOR.

BEVE R LY W. TAYLOR BY ATTORNEY United States Patent Otiice 2,991,689 KALEIDOSCOPES Beverly W. Taylor, 1820 St. Catherine, Florissant, Mo. Filed Oct. 9, 1957, Ser. No. 689,097 1 Claim. (Cl. 8815) This invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in kaleidoscopes.

It is one of the objects of the present invention toprovide a kaleidoscope having an accessible object chamber in which numerous dierent kinds of small objects may be optionally placed for Viewing purposes and may be readily removed by small children, thereby enabling them to produce an endless variety of designs and patterns.

lt is another object of the present invention to provide a kaleidoscope having a plurality of removable object containers, any one of which may be readily inserted within the objective end of the kaleidoscope and removed at the will of the user.

Itis a further object of the present invention to provide a kaleidoscope of the type stated in which the object container fits snugly within the objective end of the kaleidoscope so as to prevent falling out therefrom, but which can, nevertheless, be easily grasped and removed when desired.

It is an additional object of the present invention to provide a kaleidoscope of the type stated in which the object containers are formed of molded flexible plastic.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a kaleidoscope wherein the object container is c-apable of snug-tting frictional engagement within the objective end of the kaleidoscope despite variations in dimensional tolerances therebetween.

With the above and other objects in View, my invention resides in the novel features of form, construction, arrangement, and combination of parts presently described and pointed out in the claim.

In the accompanying drawing- FIG. l is a top plan view of a kaleidoscope constructed in accordance with and embodying the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a sectional View taken along line 2 2 of FIG. l;

FIGS. 3 and 4 are sectional views taken along lines 3 3 and 4 4, respectively, of FIG. 2; and

FIG. is a perspective View of the object container or end cap forming a part of the present invention.

Referring now in more detail and by reference characters tothe drawing, which illustrates a preferred embodiment of the present invention, A designates a kaleidoscope comprising an elongated cylindrical shell 1 provided iat one end with a sheet metal closure wall 2 having a central aperture 3. Integrally formed on the outer periphery of the closure wall 2 is a peripheral retainer band 4 which is crimped over the end of the shell 1, and disposed in facewise engagement with the closure wall 2 is a transparent cover plate 5 made of glass, Lucite, or other suitable transparent material. Positioned within the shell 1 is a V-shaped compound mirror 6 of the type usually found in kaleidoscopes which extends lengthwise from the cover plate 5 or so-called eye piece end forwardly toward the other or so-called objective end as best seen in FIGS. 2 and 3. Stapled or otherwise secured -to the outer face of the shell 1 and extending forwardly therefrom is a tubular collar 7 which rotatably supports a forwardly projecting sleeve 8, the latter extending beyond the collar 7 in the provision of an overhanging portion 9, and secured to the rear end of the sleeve 8 is an annular crimping band 10 which abuts the rear end of the collar 7, as best seen in FIG. 2. The collar 7 is of such length that its forward end extends slightly beyond the forward margin of the mirror 6, and mounted closurewise across the forward end of the collar 7 is a Patented July 11, 1961 at transparent wall 11. Adhesively or otherwise secured within the overhanging portion 9 of the sleeve 8 is a somewhat cylindrical metallic ring 12, the outer end of which is rolled back in the provision of a crimping band 13, which grips the outer end of the overhanging portion 9. At its inner end, the ring 12 is integrally provided with an inwardly struck annular shoulder 14 which abuts the transparent wall 11 such that the ring 12 and wall 11 form an objective chamber c.

Provided for removable disposition in the objective chamber c of the kaleidoscope A is a cap-like objective member B normally sized to substantially till the chamber c and preferably molded from a translucent ilexible polyethylene plastic. The member B, furthermore, includes a cylindrical side wall 15, the outer periphery of which is provided with three equally spaced elongated protuberances 16, 17, 18, and a rear wall 19 having integrally formed thereon diametrally opposed outwardly projecting ears 20, 21, which extend at a slight angle to the rear wall 19. Intermediate its ends, the side wall 15 is provided with an internal annular groove 22 for snugfitting reception of a transparent Lucite disk 23, which forms with the side wall 15 and rear wall 19 a chamber 24. Loosely disposed within, and partially filling, the chamber 24 are assorted objects a of odd shape, such as colored rubber bands, broken tooth picks, or bits of cracked and crushed colored glass or plastic. It should be understood, however, that in connection with the present invention almost any assortment of small loose, free falling objects a may be placed within the chamber 24. Furthermore, if desired, the disk 23 may be removed or eliminated, in which case the objects a will be conned within the member B by the transparent wall 11.

In connection with the present invention, it has been found that the polyethylene plastic out of which the member B is molded has the property of shrinking or contracting to some extent While cooling in the mold. Moreover, the amount of shrinkage which will take place during each molding operation cannot always be accurately predicted or controlled. Consequently, while the mold used in the manufacture of the member B is so constructed as to form the side wall 15 of the cap member B with an outer diameter substantially the same as the inner diameter of the ring 12, the shrinkage of the polyethylene plastic during the molding operation will actually cause the finished outer diameter of the Side Wall 15 to be an undetermined amount somewhat less than the inner diameter of the ring 12. This results in a loose fit between the side wall 15 and ring 12 when the member B is inserted in the chamber c. Therefore, in order to compensate for the shrinkage of the polyethylene, the protuberauces 16, 17, 18, are formed during the molding operation on the outer periphery of the side wall `15 with the outer edges of the protuberances 16, 17, 18, defining a cylindrical surface, the diameter of which is somewhat greater than the internal diameter of the ring 12. Similarly, during the molding operation, the ears 20, 21, will be integrally formed on the .rear wall 19 so as to, in effect, form an angularly offset extension thereof. Moreover, the ears 20, 21, are preferably of such length that they will extend outwardly beyond the crimping band 13 when the member B is placed in the chamber c, as shown in FIG. 2.

In use, the kaleidoscope A is normally provided with a plurality of cap-like objective members B, each of which contains a different assortment of objects a. The kaleidoscope A may also, if desired, be provided with one or more objective members B in which the disk 23 has been removed or eliminated so that the objective member B may be readily lled with objects a. The cap member B may then be inserted in the chamber c in the manner shown in FIG. 2, in which case the protuberances 16, 17, 18, will compress slightly and the outer edges thereof will flatten out a very small amount so as to snugly grip the ring 12. Since the side wall 1S of the member B is of slightly smaller inside diameter than the inside diameter of the ring 12, it will normally be, out Aof contact with the ringV 12. The ears 20, 21, will Vabut the retainer band 13 and will extend outwardly a short distance therefrom. The kaleidoscope A is then operated in the usual manner by rotating the sleeve 8 while sighting through the the aperture 3. When it is desired to remove the cap member B, it is merely necessary to grasp the ears 20, 21, and pull the objective member B out of its position within the chamber c.

It should be understood that changes and modifications in the form, construction, arrangement, and combination of the several parts of the kaleidoscopes may be made and substituted for those herein shown and described without departing from the nature and principle of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is: Y

A kaleidoscope comprising an elongated shell having a circular cross-section and being provided with an eye opening at one end, a collar of slightly larger diametral size stapled to the elongated shell in overlapping rel-ation and projecting axially outwardly therefrom, a transparent cover extending closurewise across the outer end of the collar, a sleeve disposed about the collar and projecting axi-ally outwardly therefrom, said sleeve including a crimping band secured about the end contiguous to the elongated shell and collar and being sized for abutment with the inner end of the collar, said sleeve also being provided at its other end with a ring which extends from said other end to the transparent cover yand is terminated adjacent said cover with a radially inward projecting annular shoulderwhereby to retain the transparent cover between said shoulder and the elongated shell, said ring and said cover defining a recessed charnber at the end of the collar, an objective member consisting of a translucent hollow body portion having a substantially cylindrical side wall and a tlat back wall, said side wall being provided on its outer surface with a plurality of circumferentially spaced protuberances and an annular groove on its inner surface, a transparent disk snugly positioned in said annular groove, said disk, side Wall, and back wall forming a chamber containing a plurality of loosely assorted objects of irregular shapes, and a plurality of ears integrally formed on the periphery of said back wall and extending radially outwardly of the outer surface of said side wall, said objective member being snugly seated in the recessed chamber with the protuberances in snug-tting engagement with said ring.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 862,438 Boehm Aug. 6, 1907 1,383,019 Petrie June 28, 1921 2,423,371 Carranza July 1, 1947 2,447,623 Zemelman Aug. 24, 1948 2,464,055 Papke Mar. 8, 1949 2,465,083 Gradisar Mar. 22, 1949 2,484,116 Papke Oct. 11, 1949 2,504,255 Lanauze Apr. 18, 1950 FOREIGN PATENTS 399,521 Great Britain Sept. 29, 1933 

